
Educational Psychology
9-13-99
Appropriate Punishment
I thought it was very interesting when we discussed punishment and positive
and negative reinforcement in class. I think it is very important to use positive
reinforcement just as much as negative reinforcement. I also found it interesting
that when you punish a child, you should do nine good things to make up for the one
bad punishment.
We discussed spanking in class also. I personally have never been spanked, but
that is only because my father was physically abused by his father, so my dad chooses
to punish his children in other ways. However, I do not agree with the way my parents
chose to punish me. When I was in high school, I went through a time where I chose not
to study. I also decided to experiment some with drinking, which I would soon find out
that a fourteen year old girl had no business doing this! To make a long story short,
my parents found out that I had gone to a party and consumed alcholic beverages and I
was grounded for what seemed like eternity. Now I agree that I deserved to be grounded, 
but not as strictly as I was. I was grounded from the television, the telephone, my 
friends, and I could'nt even do anything on the weekends. I could not even go to
my grandmother's house to spend the night. I really feel like my parents were way to 
harsh on me. They never hugged me or comforted me when I was about to go insane from
bordem.
I think it is very important for parents and teachers to sit down and discuss
appropriate punishment with their children. This way the child atleast has a little 
input into it. I feel like grounding your children for over a month does much more
harm than good.
I plan to really look at the studies that have been done on positive and
negative reinforcement. Hopefully when I have a classroom of my own and my own
children at home, I can use better strategies than those of my parents.
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